Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Hey, all. I'm back from a few days in NYC visiting my very good friend. We ate delicious popovers and strolled in riverside park. It was delightful.
Today, I'm planning to go running, meet another friend for coffee and have Indian carry-out for dinner (my favorite!)
Unfortunately, I got two pieces of disappointing news today. I was rejected from a program that would have allowed me study in Russia this summer for FREE. I also received a grade in a course that was by no means bad, but I would have liked to have done better.
Really, it's not that big of a deal, but I am feeling a little down about it. It can be difficult to endure the minor disappointments in life, because sometimes they seem too frequent. It helps to put everything in perspective. What with the recent Tucson shootings and the anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti, I have to try to get over my personal let-downs and focus on those people's sufferings.
Still, I'm frustrated.
(Did you know there's no word for 'frustrated' in Russian?)

Saturday, January 8, 2011

I have the poorest upper body strength. This is a fact. I have tried (and failed) repeatedly throughout my life to build some muscle on my arms but I usually quit weight training before that happens. I spent one summer weight lifting every other freaking day without any mass gain. Instead, I wreaked havoc on my bones (and my sanity).

I recently decided to try strength training again, but in a healthy and safe way. So I called a personal trainer. I met with her yesterday. Her name is Karla and she is GREAT. She set me up with a tailored routine and told me not to rush my muscles. She said to take my time and I will slowly become stronger. She said, and I quote: "You have all the time in the world."

This is true. I shouldn't rush to go up in weight, to increase my reps, whatever. I'm going to focus on form and posture and hopefully, this time, I'll gain some muscle.

Today I ran a fast 20 minutes and then collapsed onto the couch.
Maybe I'll get up soon.
Probably not.

Friday, January 7, 2011

I have returned from a week at Vail, Colorado. I spent a lot of time skiing and hot tubbing and not a lot of time skiing, but I'm trying to make up for that now. On the mountain, my cousins like to go, go, go. We don't take many breaks. It's cold and the skiing can be exhausting. The trip certainly whipped my calves into shape!

So about the race that was the original purpose of the blog. You know, the New Year's Resolution 5K that I was going to run after months of inactivity due to injury? Remember how I was going to start off the year 'right' by running my first 5K in, like, a year? Yeah. It didn't happen. And I'm fine with that.

Still, I'll take some time to explain why. The main reason I did not run the race is because the cheapest/ easiest flight for me to take to Vail was at 8:30 Saturday morning. I was already in Colorado by the time the race began. I was upset about missing the race but then I got over it. I realized that you don't define an entire year by one event (one race). Just like I don't believe in New Year's resolutions, I don't need to believe that beginning 2011 with a race will make me a 'runner' again for the entire year.

There will be other races. And I think it was better to kick off 2011 on vacation with family and friends. I do LOVE to ski.

But what about my training? I don't want to use that word, 'training' anymore. I'm choosing to replace it with 'activity' or 'exercise'. I don't think that a person has to be constantly working towards marathons to be healthy and fit. I can live a life of balance, of endurance, by eating right (which, in my opinion, includes nightly dessert) and by staying active. But if a week goes by and there's no time to go to the gym or even go on a walk, I'm okay with that, too. That, my friends, is balance.